I recently started tracking any time I interrupt my work. What I do is write down in my e-journal what time I stopped working (dog needs to be walked, check reddit, bathroom break, etc.) and what time I resumed work. I also write next to each stop time the cumulative time I’ve been working (on that day). It’s really helpful to see how much time of pure solid work you’ve done and has helped me work for longer.
Quick question, what website do you use for your journal?
I use a google docs spreadsheet, and I also track the (real) reason for the task switching. As I said, sometimes having to write an honest reason for switching is enough to prevent switching to a low-priority or a totally unnecessary task (e.g. “I want to check the forum to see if my karma went up, and I cannot wait till the end of the day because I’m so vain”)
inspired by this post: http://lesswrong.com/r/discussion/lw/9t2/what_are_you_working_on_february_2012/5u5g
I recently started tracking any time I interrupt my work. What I do is write down in my e-journal what time I stopped working (dog needs to be walked, check reddit, bathroom break, etc.) and what time I resumed work. I also write next to each stop time the cumulative time I’ve been working (on that day). It’s really helpful to see how much time of pure solid work you’ve done and has helped me work for longer.
Quick question, what website do you use for your journal?
I use a google docs spreadsheet, and I also track the (real) reason for the task switching. As I said, sometimes having to write an honest reason for switching is enough to prevent switching to a low-priority or a totally unnecessary task (e.g. “I want to check the forum to see if my karma went up, and I cannot wait till the end of the day because I’m so vain”)
I’m using OneNote/Excel. I just keep it on my Windows Skydrive.